Death of Struggle icon Liz Abrahams
2009-01-08
PAARL Struggle icon, Liz (Nana) Abrahams (83), passed away on 17 December. The former parliamentarian was a stalwart of the trade union movement and rose from the factory floor to become national general secretary of the Food and Allied Workers Union (Fawu) in 1956. She was born Liz Josephs, one of eight children. After attending the Bethany school she joined her mother to work at a local fruit canning factory at the age of 14. She soon became involved in anti-apartheid politics and the labour union movement. She later married Abraham Abrahamse, who passed away after ten years of marriage. The couple had no children. Abrahams spent her whole life in Paarl as an activist at grassroots level. Despite the risks, she provided ANC leader Chris Hani with refuge when he was about to go into exile. In 1963 she was placed under house arrest for five years, after which she focused on promoting women’s rights. She has served as chairperson of the Paarl ANC Women’s League and of the ANC Paarl branch. She was a member of parliament from 1994 to 2000. In 2002 she received the Order of the Counsellor of the Baobab in bronze from President Mbeki. The Freedom of Paarl was conferred on her in 2005, the same year her biography, “Married to the Struggle”, was published by the University of the Western Cape to mark her 80th birthday. In 2007 Fawu awarded her the Elijah Barayi Award at Cosatu’s national congress. Due to her failing health, the award was handed to her by a Fawu delegation at her house in Paarl. A memorial service was held in Paarl on 23 December, at which finance minister Trevor Manuel was the keynote speaker. There was a big turn-out for the funeral on Saturday 27 December.
More
News
|
